Book Review: SYLVESTER or THE WICKED UNCLE by Georgette Heyer

A duke who needs to be taken down a notch or fifteen and a battered down young miss who fights back the only way she can. Did I say Sylvester, or The Wicked Uncle by Georgette Heyer?

Sylvester, the Duke of Salford has decided to marry. And he has his list of requirements, and five prospective candidates. Why shouldn't he? He deserves nothing less.

And then he meets Phoebe, a young girl without money, connections or looks. A more unsuitable lady cannot be found. Her straightforward manner attracts a nobleman who has always been catered to.

But only up to a point. That point is reached when Sylvester discovers Phoebe is the authoress of a novel which skewers the rich the famous of the ton, but most especially him. Never expecting the novel to be published, Phoebe cast him as the villain, based on her then-limited knowledge. But when the ton fools blow up the novel's meaning to absurd proportions, everyone assumes she knew all the intimate details of her characters' lives, which she didn't. They punish her for it. Especially Sylvester, whom she has come to like.

Sylvester is a load of fun as the action ricochets from one improbably funny scenario to another. Ms. Heyer pokes fun at fatuous fribbles, feather-brained ladies, too-rich-for-their-own-good noblemen, spoiled brats, and horse-mad country squires who care more for their horses than their children. And she's wrapped it all up in her delightful Regency language.

Sylvester is also a tale about hiding--and what happens when you can't hide any more. Sylvester is an unusual type of hero, the closet tyrant--affable on the outside, but ruthless underneath. Phoebe also fits the closet motif. Powerless under the sway of a cruel stepmother and a weak father, she fights back against the brutal ton that disdains her by writing a novel ridiculing them.

I didn't care for either character. Sylvester is brutish in his attempts to punish Phoebe, and Phoebe accepts the blame for something that is not her fault. But they are appropriate to the time and partially redeem themselves by the end of the book.

I did like Phoebe's life-long friend, Tom, a decent, level-headed young man who calls a spade a spade and sticks up for Phoebe against Sylvester's wrong-headed treatment.

If you like Regency, Sylvester is another sensational ride into Georgette Heyer's historical world.

Thank you all,
Linda
ARC provided by Sourcebooks

Book Review: BATH TANGLE by Georgette Heyer

Regency Bath is in a tangle--a tangle of mismatched couples in Georgette Heyer's rollicking farce of a regency romance, Bath Tangle.

The Earl of Spenborough has died, leaving his twenty-five year old unwed daughter, Serena, and a wife younger than her. And to make matters worse, the earl has left Ivo, the Marquis of Rotherham, the man Serena jilted years ago, as trustee to her fortune.

Serena finds her plight unendurable, but what can she do? With a year of mourning to endure and nowhere to go, the ladies bury themselves in the earl's dower house--until utter boredom urges them to change their circumstances. But not too much. So off they go to Bath.

With such a setup, how can this novel be anything but a comedy?

If you like your regency in one large dose, Ms. Heyer has everything here--alpha and beta heroes, mismatched couples, jilted betrotheds, young girls forced by their parents to wed men much older than they, title-hungry mothers on the hunt for matrimonial prey for their daughters, and money, lots of it, not only owned by the rich aristocrats, but also by the cits who fund said titled aristocrats who then shun their benefactors. The action careens from one comic crisis to another, as the couples honor their promises (or not), even as their hearts urge them elsewhere. And all told with Ms. Heyer's delicious Regency language.

Ivo is my least favorite type of hero, the arrogant and obnoxious alpha male, and he does some distinctly unheroic things. But Serena gives as good as she gets, and together they lead this merry dance of a novel. The secondary characters are appealing and the action is fast-paced, for a wonderful time all around.

Bath Tangle is loads of nonstop comic fun, a treat for the summer or any other time.

Thank you all,
Linda
ARC supplied by Sourcebooks

Review: THE QUIET GENTLEMAN by Georgette Heyer

If you Regency fans out there haven't yet read The Quiet Gentleman by Georgette Heyer, you're in for a treat with this romance filled with comedy and danger.

The earl of St. Erth has come home--not that anyone wanted him to. Banished by his father because he was a constant reminder of the wife who deserted him, Gervase has spent his years at war. His stepmother and half-brother hoped a bullet would find him. After all, war is dangerous. But St. Erth is home, to a sullen family, a motley assortment of hangers-on and the no-nonsense Drusilla, a guest of the family. Matters worsen when Gervase and his brother compete for the same lady. And then the accidents start. Or are they accidents? Does someone want the earl dead?

The Quiet Gentleman is the type of romance I like, plenty of regency and with something else, in this case comedy and mystery, contributing to the action. I also love a secret identity story, and The Quiet Gentleman is one without masks. Gervase, blond, blue-eyed (I LOVE blond heroes), his manner unassuming, gives the impression of a lightweight. But he's no pushover, as the other players in the story soon discover.

The danger mounts with the page count. And not only the serious danger from a killer, but that most dreaded of comic regency dangers, rabid mothers seeking the earl as a matrimonial prize for their daughters. And, in a refreshing change, the heroine is the antithesis of the beautiful but not-much-else female.

I haven't read Georgette Heyer in a while, and I'd forgotten the sheer pleasure of wallowing in everything Regency. The history, the customs, the situations, the clothes, and most of all the language. Granted, I don't understand some of the thieves' cant, but that's part of the fun. If you really want translations, page through the 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue.

They don't write regency romances like this any more. In these days of wallpaper, if you want a more authentic regency experience, read Georgette Heyer's The Quiet Gentleman.

Thank you all,
Linda
ARC provided by Sourcebooks

Discounted Georgette Heyer eBooks!

Georgette Heyer's Birthday is August 16.

For those of you with ereaders, Sourcebooks is celebrating from Monday August 15, 2011 through Sunday August 21, 2011 with $1.99 ecopies of all their Georgette Heyer novels and books about her. I don't know about you, but I'm going to fill in my gaps.

Here's the link with all the info below:

http://www.sourcebooks.com/readers/casavip/happy-birthday-ms-heyer.html

Here's the announcement:

Tuesday, August 16 would have been Georgette Heyer’s 109th birthday. In honor of this most beloved author, who many call the Queen of Regency Romance, Sourcebooks is discounting EVERY SINGLE one of the eBooks we currently have available to $1.99 for one week, getting Heyer’s Birthday Party started a day early on August 15!

That’s 46 books by Georgette Heyer, plus the fabulous reader companion, Georgette Heyer’s Regency World by Jennifer Kloester, available for $1.99 from August 15-August 21.

As always, please feel free to share this awesome deal with your blog readers, on Twitter, through Facebook, etc. This is the perfect time for everyone to read Heyer, and celebrate the woman who was such a prolific author! Please note that this promotion does not start until MONDAY, August 15. So if you want to wait until then, or post it over the weekend to post about the deals, that is fine, and will probably cause less confusion amongst eager readers! But if you do post about it today or tomorrow, please make it clear that the deal starts on MONDAY! Did I mention this starts on Monday? ;-)

Below is the full list of titles, separated by category: regency romance, mystery, historical fiction and non-fiction. And here’s a link with all of the info in this email, as well as a look at those gorgeous covers: http://www.sourcebooks.com/readers/casavip/happy-birthday-ms-heyer.html.

The eBooks will be available through Sourcebooks.com and major eBook retailers (and please give them some extra time if prices aren’t adjusted right away on Monday—this is a long list and a lot of data to update J). I wanted to let you know about this fabulous deal a little bit early. We’re looking forward to Monday, August 15 when our Heyer celebration begins! Enjoy!!


HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MS. HEYER!
eBooks Available for $1.99
August 15-August 21, 2011
Heyer’s Birthday: August 16, 2011


REGENCY ROMANCE
1. Arabella
2. Bath Tangle
3. Beauvallet
4. The Black Moth
5. Black Sheep
6. Charity Girl
7. The Convenient Marriage
8. The Corinthian
9. Cotillion
10. Cousin Kate
11. Devil’s Cub
12. False Colours
13. Faro’s Daughter
14. The Foundling
15. Frederica
16. Friday’s Child
17. The Grand Sophy
18. Lady of Quality
19. The Masqueraders
20. The Nonesuch
21. Powder and Patch
22. The Quiet Gentleman
23. Regency Buck
24. The Reluctant Widow
25. Sylvester
26. The Talisman Ring
27. These Old Shades
28. Venetia


MYSTERY
29. Behold, Here’s Poison
30. A Blunt Instrument
31. Death in the Stocks
32. Detection Unlimited
33. Duplicate Death
34. Envious Casca
35. Footsteps in the Dark
36. No Wind of Blame
37. Penhallow
38. They Found Him Dead
39. Unfinished Clue
40. Why Shoot a Butler?


HISTORICAL FICTION
41. The Conqueror
42. An Infamous Army
43. My Lord John
44. Royal Escape
45. Simon the Coldheart
46. Spanish Bride


NON-FICTION
47. Georgette Heyer's Regency World

Sourcebooks British Babes and Georgette Heyer Giveaways

Starting Monday, April 25 through Friday, April 29, Sourcebooks is sponsoring two book giveaways in honor of the royal wedding.

First, a "Georgette Giveaway" here! Leave a comment on this post with your email address through Friday, April 29, for a chance to win one of two copies of a Georgette Heyer novel. Sourcebooks can mail to the US and Canada only.

And the winners of the Georgette Heyer novels are Pommawolf Emeraldwolfeyes and Emily Hendrickson! Congratulations!

Second, on the Sourcebooks British Babes Book Brigade Facebook Page:

If you haven’t already checked out the Sourcebooks British Babes Book Brigade Facebook Page (where you can participate in giveaways and interact with authors like Elizabeth Chadwick, Jill Mansell, Helen Hollick, Sarah Bower and Phillipa Ashley and more…) then you should before next week because the page is about to go royally mad!!

The royal wedding is only a week away and we are going to be celebrating all next week. Starting Monday we will be doing a giveaway every day until the big celebration on Friday. But these are no ordinary giveaways – these are royal wedding prize packs!

3 winners will be randomly picked each day from the facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/britishbabesbookbrigade):
- The 1st place winner will get a William & Kate wedding memento (it is top secret for now (just like Kate’s dress J) but check the page out on Monday to find out – oh and they are all different so there will be a different memento each day). Along with that they also get their choice of three books from any of our British Book Babes.

- The 2nd place winner will have their choice of any two books from any of our British Book Babes.

- The 3rd place winner will have their choice of one book from any of our British Book Babes.

Have fun!

Review: They Found Him Dead by Georgette Heyer

The bodies pile up right from the start in this delightful, fast-paced 1930's British murder mystery.

As an avid Regency fan, I know and love Miss Heyer's historical romances. But I had no idea she also wrote contemporary mysteries. Contemporary, that is, when she wrote them in the 1930's. I love British mysteries from that period--art deco furniture and decorations, sleek, romantic clothes, and dialog chock-full of the idioms of the day.

The "Him" of the title is Mr. Silas Kane, patriarch of the wealthy Kane family and senior partner in the firm of Kane and Mansell. The story opens at Silas's sixtieth birthday party, introducing us to the eccentric cast of characters and the story setup when Silas refuses to do business with an Australian firm his partner, Joe Mansell, champions.

The next day, Silas is found dead, apparently having tumbled off a cliff on his nightly walk. An accident, surely. The firm, and the disagreement, passes to his nephew, Clement, who welcomes his uncle's fortune so that he can pamper his spoiled wife, Rosemary. Alas, Clement's riches last only a short time, because, in a matter of days, he is found shot to death in Silas's library. Murder is definitely in the picture now, and the local police summon a Scotland Yard superintendent to untangle the case.

Who murdered Clement? Was Silas also murdered? Suspicion falls on everyone from Silas's starchy mother, Emily, to her self-contained companion, Patricia, to her grand-nephew, Jim, who is Patricia's fiancee and now the senior partner in the company. Other suspects include Trevor, Rosemary's oily would-be lover, the Mansells, father and slippery son, and even Oscar, the genial representative of the Australian firm. About the only person not suspected is Jim's half-brother, fifteen-year-old Timothy, who has overdosed on American gangster films and "helps" the police, thereby earning the nickname of "Terrible Timothy". (Hint, one of the suspects listed here is the murderer.)

The story is a fast read, funny, and I didn't figure out the murderer until Miss Heyer revealed the culprit at the end.

All in all, a highly enjoyable read, and a book I couldn't put down. I look forward to reading Miss Heyer's other mysteries.

Thank you all,
Linda

P.S. Sourcebooks provided the ARC of They Found Him Dead.